Some hypothetical suggestions, regarding the probable derivation of the name of the far-famed “Chimborazo,” may not be wholly unwelcome to etymologists. The district in which the mountain is situated is called Chimbo, a word which La Condamine[JG] derives from _chimpani_, to cross a river. “Chimboraço” means, according to him, “the snow of the opposite bank,” from the fact of a brook being crossed at the village of Chimbo, in sight of the huge snow-covered mountain. (In the Quichua language _chimpa_ signifies the opposite bank or side; _chimpani_ to cross a river, bridge, &c.) Several natives of the province of Quito assured me that Chimborazo meant simply the snow of Chimbo. In Carguairazo we meet with the same termination, and it would appear that “razo” is a provincial word. The Jesuit Holguin, whose excellent vocabulary[JH] I possess, is not acquainted with the word razo. The genuine term for snow is ritti. On the other hand, my friend, Professor Buschmann, an admirable linguist, remarks that in the Chinchaysuyo dialect, (employed north of Cuzco as far as Quito and Pasto) raju, the _j_ being apparently guttural, signifies snow.[JI] As chimpa and chimpani do not well suit on account of the _a_, we may seek a definite meaning for the first portion of the name of the mountain and of the village Chimbo, in the Quichua word “chimpu,” which is used to express a coloured thread or fringe (señal de lana, hilo ó borlilla de colores); the redness of the sky (arreboles), and the halo round the sun and moon. The name of the mountain might be thus derived from this word, without reference to the district or village. At all events, whatever may be the etymology of the word Chimborazo, it should be written in the Peruvian manner Chimporazo, as the Peruvians have no _b_ in their alphabet.